Renzo Comolli
> I am first time poster and hope I am doing this right.
> Anyway, I have seen some people post their wish for version
> 8 here are
> mine:
>
> 1) browse if... , highlighting if ...
> This command would allow you to browse the entire dataset (or a
> restriction) and highlight some cells specified by the
> condition (using
> colors, as in Excel)
>
> 2) drop x if inlist(x,1,25,.)
> This command would allow you to drop a column if that
> column contains
> only the values specified in the condition
>
The existing syntax of -drop- includes
. drop <varname>
and
. drop if <exp>
Renzo wants a hybrid whereby
. drop <varname> if <exp>
drops <varname> if _all_ of its values
satisfy <exp>. This would be totally
non-standard syntax: as such, my guess is that
you will never get Stata Corp to
buy this; in fact, I doubt that this
could be programmed without breaking
Stata.
In any case, I vote against it.
The reason is that any command
with an -if- condition results
in an observation by observation
test, whereas Renzo wants a test
of all the observations simultaneously,
which in effect would change the meaning
of -if-.
More positively, you can get
this behaviour for yourself
by some code, something like this
program def dropifall
version 7
syntax varlist [if]
qui count `if'
if r(N) == _N {
drop `varlist'
}
end
provided that the syntax,
which is standard, is understood
to have its own special result.
Nick
[email protected]
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
